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Attacks on the Church

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Hegemony of the Soviet Union
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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Almost every structure of governance began to resemble those in the Soviet Union or was made to resemble it, and not just the structures of governance but all institutions of public life. The main symbol of this was Marshal Rokossowski who went from being a marshal of the Soviet Union to a marshal of Poland from one day to the next. But we know now that in the Ministry of Security every significant position was shadowed by a so-called advisor from the Soviet Union who had more input than the official whom he was shadowing. In fact, this was true of every ministry but only at the higher levels of administration.

Wszystkie prawie struktury władzy zaczęły się upadabniać i były upodabniane na siłę do struktur Związku Sowieckiego; nie tylko struktury władzy – wszelkie instytucje życia publicznego. Głównym takim symbolem tego był marszałek Rokossowski, który z dnia na dzień z marszałka Związku Sowieckiego stał się marszałkiem Polski. Ale wiemy dzisiaj dobrze, że w Ministerstwie Bezpieczeństwa każde istotne stanowisko było dublowane przez tak zwanego doradcę ze Związku Sowieckiego, który miał więcej do powiedzenia niż urzędnik, którego on dublował. A tyczy to zresztą również właściwie każdego ministerstwa, tylko na odpowiednio wysokich szczeblach zarządzania.

Jan Józef Lipski (1926-1991) was one of Poland's best known political activists. He was also a writer and a literary critic. As a soldier in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1976, following worker protests, he co-founded the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). His active opposition to Poland's communist authorities led to his arrest and imprisonment on several occasions. In 1987, he re-established and headed the Polish Socialist Party. Two years later, he was elected to the Polish Senate. He died in 1991 while still in office. For his significant work, Lipski was honoured with the Cross of the Valorous (Krzyż Walecznych), posthumously with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1991) and with the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle (2006).

Listeners: Jacek Petrycki Marcel Łoziński

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Film director Marcel Łoziński was born in Paris in 1940. He graduated from the Film Directing Department of the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1971. In 1994, he was nominated for an American Academy Award and a European Film Academy Award for the documentary, 89 mm from Europe. Since 1995, he has been a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science awarding Oscars. He lectured at the FEMIS film school and the School of Polish Culture of Warsaw University. He ran documentary film workshops in Marseilles. Marcel Łoziński currently lectures at Andrzej Wajda’s Master School for Film Directors. He also runs the Dragon Forum, a European documentary film workshop.

Tags: Soviet Union, Konstantin Rokossovsky

Duration: 51 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 09 March 2011